There's been some recent buzz around the Houston Dynamo, and it's not all centered around the brand spankin' shiny new toy, BBVA Compass Stadium. As we continue to count down the final week until the first Houston Dynamo home match on their pretty new pitch inside their absolutely gorgeous new stadium, an announcement was made which has polarized certain entities and united others.

Aaron Ramsey's cameo appearance in our "class versus cash" victory over Abu Dhabi Oil Inc was not his greatest moment in an Arsenal shirt.

He had slotted in pretty well after coming on in the 78th minute to replace Yossi "Busy Bee" Benayoun.

But what we will all remember is the moment at the death where he was through on goal with a chance to make it 2-0 and with Oxlade-Chamberlain and van Persie waiting in the middle to side foot the ball into an empty net.

Aaron Ramsey's cameo appearance in our "class versus cash" victory over Abu Dhabi Oil Inc was not his greatest moment in an Arsenal shirt.

He had slotted in pretty well after coming on in the 78th minute to replace Yossi "Busy Bee" Benayoun.

But what we will all remember is the moment at the death where he was through on goal with a chance to make it 2-0 and with Oxlade-Chamberlain and van Persie waiting in the middle to side foot the ball into an empty net.

Chelsea's caretaker coach Roberto Di Matteo is confident that his team can make it to the semi final of the the Champions League for the first time since 2009, when they were controversially knocked out by Barcelona.

The rivalry between the two teams dates back to the 2004/2005 season when Chelsea under Mourinho at the time felt aggrieved by the referees decision to send Didier Drogba off after his side had taken a shocking lead at the Nou Camp.

The run had to end sometime and to me the result wasn't as much a surprise as it might have been to some people. Games at this level are very tight and often decided by minor details. Since this is a late post I don't want to dwell on too many aspects of the game that would have been difficult to take for many.

The run had to end sometime and to me the result wasn't as much a surprise as it might have been to some people. Games at this level are very tight and often decided by minor details. Since this is a late post I don't want to dwell on too many aspects of the game that would have been difficult to take for many.

Kenny Palmer gives THFC1882 his match report from Saturday's game against Chelsea.

An impressively earned point for Spurs at Stamford Bridge built on a professional away performance maintained the Lilywhites 5 point lead over Chelsea in the hunt for a Champions League place.

Manchester United have been made to work hard for the points in recent encounters with West Brom and expect no difference today. Following United's dismal display midweek v Atl. Bilboa confidence in the camp must be at it's lowest ebb while West Brom are in ascendency following their recent run of form, as the match facts say United were lucky on the opening day of the season to beat the Baggies 2-1 with only one shot on target recorded.

via i.imgur.com

This morning the Texian Army issued the following response to the sanctions MLS levied against Houston Dynamo supporters' groups earlier this week. I've been clear about what I think about the sanctions. What do you think about the TA's response?

On Monday, Major League Soccer (MLS) announced the suspension of supporters privileges (flags, banners, drums, etc.

Barcelona's coach, Josep Guardiola wasn't in the mood in commenting about his future as his mind is simply focused on the Catalan's upcoming clash against Atletico Madrid, which could potentially be another troubling game for the defending champion.

Guadiola acknowledged the improvement that Atletico made under the new reign of Diego Simeone and urged his team to play their best game in order to get three points at Vicente Calderon.

COUNTDOWN TO MLS 2012 - SEASON 17

STARTERS
Brek Shea has been invited into an Olympic training camp that will happen at the same time the USA senior team is preparing for a friendly against Italy, meaning he is most likely NOT going to be on Jurgen Klinsmann's roster for the first time since the German took over the program.

There are rumours that Arsene Wenger is considering giving Robin Van Persie a break this weekend against Blackburn to try and freshen him up for the three upcoming away games against Sunderland, AC Milan and (probably) Sunderland again. Van Persie has scored 21 goals in 23 games this season, but his shooting hasn't been quite [.

Manchester United's 2-1 win over Arsenal at the Emirates yesterday is proving to be one really costly win. The Red Devils will be without 4 of their first team players as they won the first of 4 huge away games.

Rooney, Nani, Carrick and Jones are in danger of missing out on United's FA Cup away fixture to Liverpool on Saturday after the quartet suffered injuries during the game.

The transformation from Bruce Banner to the Incredible Hulk still isn't an easy process to watchHello? Is this thing still on? Oh good, you're still here.
Apologies for the delay in regular programming but, fret not, The Boys From White Hart Lane is back from it's Christmas hiatus and is ready to rock your socks off all over again in this new year.

Guardian: Race question seems likely to haunt Liverpool for rest of season

Liverpool may be regretting their stance on the Luis Suárez racial abuse controversy after Friday's incident involving Oldham's Tom Adeyemi The Luis Suárez T-shirts Liverpool wore at Wigan were always a bad idea, quite the worst attitude struck in a solidarity campaign that brought the club's decision-making into question if not disrepute, and the sight of supporters wearing them at the next home game at Anfield came with a queasy sense of foreboding.

Today we offer The Wolves a warm welcome to The Emirates.

Wolverhampton Wanderers were founded as St Lukes in 1877 and have played at Molineux since 1889. They were founder members of the Football League.

Role of Honour:

League Champions: 1953/54, 1957/58, 1958/59.

Today we offer The Wolves a warm welcome to The Emirates.

Wolverhampton Wanderers were founded as St Lukes in 1877 and have played at Molineux since 1889. They were founder members of the Football League.

Role of Honour:

League Champions: 1953/54, 1957/58, 1958/59.

Well. No time for crying over spilt milk, is there? The Canaries are visiting and we're going to be good hosts and beat them up, eh! At least that must be the plan. Three points is a must now, with a row of difficult away games waiting in the holidays. For those, must be only [...]

Would you believe it!!!

Sometimes in life, you realise there are things you only realise you can't live without once it's gone. For me today, the realisation is one to do with computer. My laptop died on me today and suddenly there's a huge void in my life. Luckily, I've managed to borrow one but I'm sure that's not what you want to read.

AVB held his pre match press conference yesterday and was keen to point out that Chelsea will not be sitting back to try and keep a clean sheet to progress to the knockout stages tonight but will be going all out to win the game which is good to hear.
He said:

People have seen us play enough now to be sure we always take the initiative in games, We know that Valencia want to get something because a goal for them makes the game even more difficult for us, but we won't change our strategy just because it is an important game
We will take the initiative and we don't play counter attack or use the long balls.

Vedran Corluka's requests for first team football had spread around the teamRight, call off all the bets. The season's as good as over and the title is ours. As if any further proof were needed that this year's Spurs are made of different, more robust stuff than previous incarnations, this weekend provided further evidence that we are indeed, as Herman's Hermits said, into something good.

Written by Total Arsenal

Due to a recent spell of bad results in the Premier League and the relentless complaining of our fans, we are now looking for a new Manager.

During the reign of Arsène Wenger, Arsenal won three League Championships, Four FA Cups, achieved the cult-status of the Invincibles for a 49-games spell of not getting beat, reached the CL final, played in the CL for 14 consecutive seasons, played a brand of football envied all over the world, and moved successfully to a brand new stadium, whilst keeping the club in a healthy financial position.

Written by Total Arsenal

Due to a recent spell of bad results in the Premier League and the relentless complaining of our fans, we are now looking for a new Manager.

During the reign of Arsène Wenger, Arsenal won three League Championships, Four FA Cups, achieved the cult-status of the Invincibles for a 49-games spell of not getting beat, reached the CL final, played in the CL for 14 consecutive seasons, played a brand of football envied all over the world, and moved successfully to a brand new stadium, whilst keeping the club in a healthy financial position.

1. After spending most of last season dreading our away games, how thoroughly refreshing it was to see United put in a performance like that at a ground we often struggle at. When the chants of "Are you Arsenal in disguise?" started, with us 3-0 up after 25 minutes, you knew it was going to be a good day.

Today we have a rather startling and a little bit of a confusing decision made by the club. In order to go to away games, you must be a club member or a season ticket holder. The justification for all of this is the events that took place at the Darlington friendly which we can [...]

Good evening! After a couple of tough away games, in the Pacific Northwest, our team is back in MLS action tomorrow afternoon @Chicago. In the meantime, let's examine some of the RBNY news of the past week.
Once again, the week started of with a bang, with Red Bulls GM Erik Soler making a statement blasting the awful refs at the Porland/RBNY match.

New Aston Villa Away Jersey 2011-2012 is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

New Aston Villa Away Jersey 2011-2012 is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Aston Villa have released their new away jersey 2011/2012 which they will wear in their away games during the 2011/2012 season.

Another fantastic episode of this RBNY-themed podcast. This week, Mark & Dave discuss the insane draw @Portland, horrible MLS refs, unsatisfactory goalkeeping/defending & preview the upcoming away games against Seattle and Chicago. Their guest this week is former Red Bull, current Sounder, defender Jeff Parke.

AFC Champions League
Jeonbuk v Arema 6-0
4 - Arema 6 0 1 5 2-22 1
Well I can't see any Indonesian teams being allowed to compete in the ACL in the future. It just isn't a priority for them and long flights overseas aren't exciting when you spend half the season on planes anyway.

Moi, je t'offrirai
Des perles de pluie
Venues de pays
Où il ne pleut pas

David Sullivan admits he prefers to watch West Ham on TV than travel to away games. The club's joint-chairman came clean following fierce criticism that not one Hammers director travelled to watch the Premier League's bottom team lose 2-1 at Manchester City on Sunday.

Weekend Six Pack Tears of joy and sorrow for London teams is a post from: Just Football

Each week Rob Hartnett from 188BET.com will bring you six of the best football betting opportunities from the weekend action. Rob is the public face of the leading In Play betting specialists and appears regularly on the Bolton, Wigan, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Liverpool and Everton websites doing betting previews.

Pepe Reina is confident a quartet of victories will secure European football for Liverpool next season.
The Reds head into the final straight of the 2010-11 campaign three points adrift of fifth-placed Tottenham having played a game more.
However, the Spaniard is adamant Kenny Dalglish's side can still leapfrog the Londoners and reckons this weekend could be a pivotal moment in the race for a Europa League spot.

The relegation battle in Serie A who's going down then? is a post from: Just Football

Bari's 1-0 home defeat to Sampdoria on Saturday afternoon confirmed the club's relegation to Serie B, something which was inevitable months ago but is now mathematically certain. It Brescia's defeat to Milan by the same scoreline, although not sealing their fate, leaves them five points adrift with only 12 left to play for, meaning it is looking increasingly like five, six or even seven clubs trying to avoid what appears to be one remaining spot in the bottom three.

If Wigan won their eight remaining games of the season (don't put any money on it), they would amass one more point than third place Chelsea currenly have. Every season in the EPL managers and pundits debate the number of points they will need to be safe from relegation and it is usually set at 40 points.

With the March 26th EURO 2012 clash between England and Wales looming, Football Fashion is giving away a brand new England 2010/12 away soccer jersey! This is the kit worn by the Three Lions for their away games since the Spring of 2010 and at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Among the best [.

Weekend Six Pack plus Villans, Potters, Reds and the Bundesliga Champions elect is a post from: Just Football

During the course of this week I gave three correct score combination bets on twitter @HartnettRob at odds of 3.85, 3.33 and 2.35 covering Man United, Arsenal and Liverpool. The highlight for In Play backers will probably have been Bayern Munich grabbing a late winner against Inter Milan.

GIJON, Spain — League leaders Barcelona saw their record winning run come to an end with a shock 1-1 draw at Sporting Gijon and it could have been worse had David Villa not scored a brilliant 79th-minute equaliser to salvage a point. Barcelona had won 16 consecutive league games to beat the old mark of [.

Shrewsbury 1-0 Stevenage (Wroe 38)
Highlights | BBC Report

Not good. Five games it is now without a win and it's a run that looks like it has a while to go yet before it gets better. A solitary goal from Nicky Wroe was enough to give the Shrews the victory today. Boro didn't play well, but did create some chances late on as they pushed for a point.

Liverpool had one busy day amongst the dying embers of January's transfer window. Kop (probably not so much anymore) legend Fernando Torres packed up and flew south to join Carlo Ancelotti's Chelsea for a massive £50m, whilst Newcastle's Andy Carroll made the trip to Merseyside along with Ajax's Luis Suarez, installing an Anfield revolution within the attacking third of Kenny Dalglish's transformed squad.

Given Chelsea's form in the last few away games, no Chelsea fan would have been certainly been confident about tonight's trip to the Stadium of light. However, the recent signings of Fernando Torres and David Luiz has once again signalled Chelsea's intent of not only recapturing the title this season, but the subsequent seasons as well.